Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Falkland Islands: Oil

Lord Empey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government who can give permission for oil exploration in the waters off the Falkland Islands.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: Oil exploration in the Falkland Islands is governed by the Falkland Islands Offshore Minerals Ordinance of 1994. Subject to this Ordinance, and with the consent of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr Hammond), the Rt Hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge, the British Government appointed Governor of the Falkland Islands may, on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen, grant to any person a licence for the purposes of exploration or production in the controlled waters, or in the sea-bed or subsoil thereof, of the Falkland Islands.

North Korea: Responsibility to Protect

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will apply the principles of the Responsibility to Protect to the situation in North Korea.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is a governing principle of the British Government's work across the conflict spectrum, including in human rights and development. R2P imposes an obligation on all UN member states to protect their populations and for the international community to assist. The British Government continues to maintain pressure on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to engage with the international community and take concrete steps to improve their appalling human rights record. We have urged the North Korean regime to allow the UN Special Rapporteur on DPRK Human Rights free and unfettered access to investigate the disturbing reports of human rights violations as documented in the UN Commission of Inquiry report. The Government strongly supported the recent Human Rights Council Resolution on DPRK which created a Panel of Experts to investigate the issue of accountability for those accused of committing human rights violations. We will continue to support this process to ensure that those who are responsible for human rights abuses are held to account. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Human Rights Report 2015 designated the DPRK as a Human Rights Priority Country. Improving the human rights situation in the DPRK remains a key objective of our engagement with the North Korean government.

Islamic State: Yazidis

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have evidence that the Kurdistan Workers Party and the Peoples Protection Units have rescued some captive Yazidi women; what assessment they have made of whether the Kurdistan Regional Government Peshmerga have carried out any rescues, and if so, whether they have offered to assist them; and whether the same British technology that is able to identify ISIS commanders has been used to identify and to rescue women captives.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: We are aware of media reports about organisations that are working to free those being held hostage by Daesh. We do not have any information regarding the rescue of Yezidi captives by either the Kurdistan Workers Party or the Peoples Protection Units. During offensive operations against Daesh, Yezidi hostages have been freed by the Peshmerga. We continue to work in support of Iraqi and Kurdish Regional government forces towards defeating this terrible organisation. The UK has been at the forefront of these efforts and plays a leading role in a Global Coalition of 66 countries and international organisations to respond to Daesh’s inhumanity.

Tunisia: Politics and Government

Lord Radice: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assistance they are giving to the government of Tunisia with a view to promoting democracy and rebuilding its economy, and in particular the creation of jobs for young people.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: In the financial year from April 2015 – March 2016, UK support to Tunisia doubled to around £7 million for programmes to support governance, economic reform (including job creation and entrepreneurship) and security sector capacity building. We expect this high level of support to continue in the coming year, reaching at least £8 million for projects including capacity building for democratic institutions and anti-corruption bodies, and support for financial sector reform and entrepreneurship. We continue to encourage Tunisia to set out its plans for its economic development and reform, and have particularly underlined the importance of creating jobs for young people.

Western Sahara: Politics and Government

Viscount Waverley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the UN Secretary General’s remark during his visit to Algeria from 6 to 7 March that the Western Sahara is "occupied".

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: The UN and UK consider that the status of Western Sahara is undetermined. Since he made his remark, the office of the UN Secretary General has expressed regret at the misunderstanding over the use of this word.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Comet Group: Insolvency

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish the report produced by the Insolvency Service on the collapse of the Comet Group, and whether they will take that report into account when conducting any review of the circumstances leading to the collapse of BHS.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: The Insolvency Service investigated Comet under provisions of the Companies Act, which means it is not possible to publish the report.The Insolvency Service continuously builds on the experience gained in all its investigations to inform its work.

Department for Education

Access to Elected Office for Disabled People Fund

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have for the future of the pilot Access to Elected Office Fund.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The Access to Elected Office Fund was a pilot established in 2012 to test this type of support for disabled candidates. We are now reviewing the findings of the assessment of the pilot and anticipate making an announcement in due course.

Pupils: Gender Recognition

Lord Maginnis of Drumglass: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any guidance or instruction from the Department of Education has prompted Brighton and Hove City Council to seek to establish the gender identity rather than the physical sex of four and five year-old children, and how many other education bodies have sent similar requests to parents.

Lord Maginnis of Drumglass: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish any relevant correspondence between the Department for Education and Brighton and Hove City Council following its January 2016 inquiry into the gender identity rather than the physical sex of secondary school children.

Lord Maginnis of Drumglass: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the actions of Brighton and Hove City Council regarding its inquiries into children's gender identity, rather than their physical sex, have been referred to the police in the light of any risk that such questioning might sexualise vulnerable young people.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The Department for Education provides guidance on the Equality Act 2010 to schools which contains advice on the Public Sector Equality Duty and on the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.The Department has not inquired into the gender identity of children in January 2016 and has no correspondence on the matter.The addition of gender identity information on the pupil registration form was solely a decision of the Brighton and Hove City Council. They have the independence to make this decision.The Department does not hold details of any additional information collected by local authorities outside of those required by the Department for our centrally specified, mandatory data collections.The Department is not aware of any referral on this issue to the Police.

Ministry of Justice

Criminal Cases Review Commission

Lord Falconer of Thoroton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what budget has been allocated to the Criminal Cases Review Commission in each year since its creation.

Lord Faulks: The information requested regarding the budget that has been allocated to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) since its creation, is highlighted in the table below. This information can also be located in the published CCRC annual report. Prior to 2007/8 budgets were allocated by the Home Office, as the sponsor department.For this reason, the MoJ only holds the information from the date that the sponsorship function transferred to MoJ. Since 2007/8, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has had the following net levels of funding: Year Total Funding £ Ms2007/86.7012008/96.6612009/106.5602010/116.3242011/125.9202012/135.2772013/145.1782014/155.1782015/165.178

Criminal Cases Review Commission

Lord Falconer of Thoroton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many applications the Criminal Cases Review Commission has received in each year since its creation.

Lord Faulks: The information requested regarding the number of applications the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has received since its creation, is highlighted in the table below. This information can also be located in the published CCRC annual report. Since its creation in 1997, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has had 20,367 applications. This figure excludes 279 applications that were transferred from the Home Office when the CCRC started operating in 1997. This is broken down as: Year Total Applications1997/81,1031998/91,0371999/07772000/18002001/28342002/39322003/48852004/59552005/610112006/710512007/89842008/99192009/109322010/119332011/1210402012/1316252013/1414702014/1515992015/161480

Criminal Cases Review Commission

Lord Falconer of Thoroton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many applications the Criminal Cases Review Commission has received since its creation that subsequently succeeded on appeal.

Lord Faulks: Since its creation in 1997 the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) had referred 619 cases, to the relevant court, by 31 March 2016. As at 31 March 2016 596 of the referrals had been heard by the court. 406 Appeals have been allowed, 178 have been dismissed and 12 have been abandoned. This information can also be located in the published CCRC annual report.

Family Courts: Legal Aid Scheme

Baroness Hussein-Ece: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many convicted sex offenders and those prosecuted for domestic violence offences have been given legal aid to pursue child access cases in the family courts in each of the last 10 years.

Lord Faulks: The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

Immigration: Appeals

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they propose to increase immigration and asylum chamber fees, and what assessment they have made of the likely impact of those increased fees on access to justice.

Lord Faulks: We’re protecting the most vulnerable from any fee increase, including those who receive asylum support and cases involving children being supported or housed by a local authority. But it is also right that the taxpayer does not subsidise those who choose to challenge a decision made by the Home Office before the Tribunal. We have a duty to the public to reduce the deficit and ensure sustainable funding for Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service. We have published a full impact assessment alongside the consultation document published on the Government website.

Ministry of Defence

Royal Fleet Auxiliary

Lord West of Spithead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the three planned solid support ships for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary will be built in UK shipyards in order to form part of the regular drumbeat of orders required to maintain the strategic capability of a viable UK shipbuilding industry being identified by Sir John Parker in his national shipbuilding strategy.

Lord West of Spithead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the three planned solid support ships for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary will be built of British steel.

Earl Howe: Work to date suggests that the majority of the requirements of the Fleet Solid Support Ships are likely to be classified as non-warlike, allowing the ships to be procured through open competition, to UK and international bidders. Sensitive elements of the ships are expected to be procured through competitions that will be limited to UK only suppliers.It is too early to say where the steel to be used in the construction of these ships will be sourced from.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Control of Horses Act 2015

Baroness Whitaker: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what happens to horses seized under the Control of Horses Act 2015.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: Under the Control of Horse Act 2015, if a horse that has been detained for a minimum 96 hours has not been claimed by the owner it may be sold, rehomed with charities or, where other options are not available, euthanised.

Animals: Tagging

Baroness Whitaker: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to issue guidance to vets on how to proceed with the micro-chipping of dogs or horses when the owner is of no fixed abode, such as in the case of Gypsies and Travellers.

Baroness Whitaker: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, where a dog or horse is being micro-chipped and its owner is of no fixed abode, such as in the case of Gypsies and Travellers, whether they have considered allowing a mobile phone number or address of a friend or relation of the owner to be recorded rather than the owner’s address.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: Owners of horses and dogs without a fixed address should provide the address of a family member or close friend with whom they keep in contact. Defra have worked with the veterinary representative organisations on their guidance for vets on microchipping of dogs.

Home Office

Muttahida Quami Movement: Money Laundering

Lord Ahmed: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 21 March (HL7044), whether (1) the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, (2) the Prime Minister’s Office, or (3) any other government institution, have received any representations from the government of India about not pursuing the money-laundering case against MQM.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by my noble Friend Lord Bates, of 21 March 2016 [HL7024]. I am informed that no records have been identified by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Cabinet Office, HM Treasury and No 10 of any such representations.

HM Treasury

Foreign Investment in UK

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to prevent any fall in the amount of foreign direct investment if the UK were to vote to leave the EU.

Lord O'Neill of Gatley: The Government’s position is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU. Recently published Government analysis - ‘HM Treasury analysis: the long-term economic impact of EU membership and the alternatives’ – described the evidence that EU membership has supported foreign direct investment into the UK. It concludes that foreign direct investment flows into the UK would fall by between 10% and 26% if the UK left the EU, depending on the alternative arrangement.

London Stock Exchange: Deutsche Borse

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the proposed cross-margining between LCH Clearnet and Euronext, consequent on the takeover of the London Stock Exchange by Deutsche Bourse, will constitute a mechanism for transmitting financial risk; and whether they plan to take any action to limit the likelihood of any increased systemic risk that might result.

Lord O'Neill of Gatley: I refer the noble Lord to my written answers of 1 April (HL7342) and 26 April (HL7583, HL7584, HL7585, and HL7586)

ICT: Standards

Lord Hunt of Chesterton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to introduce standards to minimise the risk of the malfunctioning of electronic financial transactions and data storage by financial and public organisations; and what information is available to the general public to enable them (1) to choose which organisations and services to use, and (2) to know whether or not to use electronic systems depending on those services.

Lord O'Neill of Gatley: On 18th March, the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, Matthew Hancock, announced that the new National Cyber Security Centre will work with the Bank of England to produce advice for the finance sector for managing cyber security effectively. This will build on tools such as the Cyber Essentials scheme, which sets out the technical controls organisations should have in place to demonstrate that they are following a basic level of ‘good practice’ in terms of their cyber security. It is the responsibility of firms to ensure the resilience of their Information Technology (IT) systems. Through the Dear Chairman Exercise I and II, the Financial Authorities have assessed large UK deposit-takers’ technology resilience, and are working with firms to ensure that further improvements are made and customers are protected.

Cabinet Office

Lobbying

The Earl of Clancarty: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether grants administered by the Arts Council will be exempted from new Cabinet Office guidelines that no government grants may be used to lobby.

Lord Bridges of Headley: As the Minister for the Cabinet Office the Rt Hon Matthew Hancock made clear on 27 April, we are committed to protecting taxpayers' money from being wasted on government lobbying government. We are pausing the implementation of this clause into grant agreements, pending a review of the representations made.

Lobbying

Lord Berkeley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Bridges of Headley on 19 April (HL Deb, col 543) on government grant agreements, whether an academic research institution which is also a charity and is in receipt of government funding from research councils will be covered by the proposed anti-lobbying clauses expected to be introduced in grant agreements from 1 May.

Lord Bridges of Headley: As the Minister for the Cabinet Office the Rt Hon Matthew Hancock made clear on 27 April, we are committed to protecting taxpayers' money from being wasted on government lobbying government. We are pausing the implementation of this clause into grant agreements, pending a review of the representations made.